(CNN) -- In her first interview since giving birth, the teenage daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said having a child is not "glamorous," and that telling young people to be abstinent is "not realistic at all."

"It's just, like, I'm not living for myself anymore. It's, like, for another person, so it's different," Bristol Palin told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. "And just you're up all night. And it's not glamorous at all," she said. "Like, your whole priorities change after having a baby."

The 18-year-old, who gave birth in late December, said she is being helped tremendously by her mother, grandmother, cousins and other family members. She is engaged to teen father Levi Johnston, who is now working for his father and trying to complete school, but said she wishes that she waited another 10 years to have a baby.

It was "harder than labor" telling her parents she was pregnant.

"Well, we were sitting on the couch, my best friend and Levi, and we had my parents come and sit on the couch, too. And we had my sisters go upstairs," Bristol said. "And we just sat them down, and I just -- I couldn't even say it. I was just sick to my stomach.

"And so finally, my best friend just, like, blurted it out. And it was just, like -- I don't even remember it because it was just, like, something I don't want to remember."

Todd and Sarah Palin were "scared just because I have to -- I had to grow up a lot faster than they ever would have imagined," Bristol said.

Her parents insisted that she and her boyfriend hash out a "game plan" immediately. And now her parents and relatives are all pitching in to help take care of the child, particularly when Bristol is at school during the day.

Van Susteren was delicate with the teenager but pointedly asked if "contraception is an issue here."

"Is that something that you were just lazy about or not interested, or do you have philosophical or religious opposition to it," Van Susteren asked.

Bristol quickly answered that she didn't want to get into specifics. The best option is abstinence, the teen said, but added that she didn't think that was "realistic." Watch Bristol Palin say that abstinence is "not realistic at all" »

While her mother was running for vice president, the teenager said her treatment in the media was "evil." She said she read some of the tabloids that wrote about her. People didn't understand, she said, and some media reports perpetuated falsehoods about her experience.

"They thought that, like, my mom was going to make me have the baby, and it was my choice to have the baby," she said. "And it's just -- that kind of stuff just bothered me."

Van Susteren asked, "But this is your issue? This is your decision?"

Bristol answered yes. "(It) doesn't matter what my mom's views are on it. It was my decision, and I wish people would realize that, too," she said.

The network interview was Bristol's idea, the teen said. And she apparently sprung the news to her parents that she was going to speak publicly the day before the network taping. The teen said she wanted to tell her story so that other young people might think twice about having sex.

"I'd love to [be] an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy because it's not, like, a situation that you would want to strive for, I guess," Bristol said.

Gov. Palin made an unexpected appearance during the interview in Alaska, and Van Susteren asked her about her daughter's pregnancy.

Not the most ideal situation, certainly you make the most of it," the governor said.

Bristol is a "strong and bold woman, and she is an amazing mom," Palin said. "And this little baby is very lucky to have her as a mama. He's going to be just fine."

so the focus of their story is not how hard it is to be a mother so young - and how devistating it is to deal with a pregnancy - but how she said in passing that abstinaince is 'not realistic' in all cases.

Lanie

02-18-2009, 12:59 AM

She's not saying to not encourage abstinience. She wants to help discourage having sex at a young age. She simply thinks it's unrealistic. I have to agree. I've noticed that nearly everybody saying to tell the kids not to have sex until marriage often had sex in their teens and still won't refrain from sex if they are single.

I think Bristol's speaking out might be effective because she's saying how hard it is to be a young mother. I think that's very important. I've learned that a lot of kids actually think one of the things leading out to teen pregnancy is that some teens actually don't want to prevent pregnancy. Some think being a mom so young is a good thing. I sort of think that education to prevent pregnancy needs to go into the direction of discussing why you don't want a baby right now. Not just Abstinience Only or Sex Ed programs. I used to think the idea of being a mom fresh out of high school might be cool. Then my niece was born, and I got to babysit quite a bit. My attitude changed. lol. I love my niece, but I figured out right away that this wasn't something I needed to do full time just yet. It would be good if more teens could be given that wake up call.

Ree

02-18-2009, 01:28 AM

Give em one of the little "bundles of joy" that screams for days.....:eek:

Sonnabend

02-18-2009, 07:07 AM

Bristol answered yes. "(It) doesn't matter what my mom's views are on it. It was my decision, and I wish people would realize that, too," she said.

Good on you.

AmPat

02-18-2009, 09:33 AM

Could we please get the VRWC speech writers back on the job? "It's like, um, I don't know, like hard and stuff."
Why can't our children--High Schoolers, speak normally instead of sounding like Spicoli?

Lager

02-18-2009, 10:53 AM

We know that no matter what we tell our kids, many times they're not going to listen. We tell them drugs and alcohol are bad, and many try them anyway. We wouldn't think of not telling them about abstaining from those dangers simply because they don't always hear us, so why does the liberal part of society insist we need to change the way we warn our teens about the dangers of irresponsible sex?

Gingersnap

02-18-2009, 11:15 AM

Bristol is like a lot of American teens. Being the child of parents with conservative/libertarian viewpoints doesn't magically exempt her from the ordinary (and banal) dramas of teenage life.

Right now, there has been a big decline in teen sex since the 1990s. This doesn't make the news for a couple of reasons. One reason is that the decline is very much tied to social and cultural factors. White and Asian teens who expect to go to college and have a "career" instead of a "job" are delaying sex, avoiding sex, or engaging in non-reproductive sex. The other thing is that teens across all racial lines are less inclined to have reproductive sex if their biological parents are married to each other.

Bristol is one of the kids who didn't get the message although she had ample exposure to comprehensive sex ed. Obviously, plenty of kids in her demographic very realistically avoid sex or avoid reproductive sex. This trend show no decline. Most (but not all) ambitious kids with hands-on parents and busy lives simply don't have the time, energy, or privacy to make sex a top priority. As more white and Asian teens come to a pro-life position, the risks of sex becomes a lot higher. They aren't as ready to abort today as they were 10 years ago and both the boy and the girl are aware of how raising a child will impact college and career plans.

linda22003

02-18-2009, 11:22 AM

You keep emphasizing "non-reproductive sex". Is that a fancy way of saying blow jobs? :p

lacarnut

02-18-2009, 11:33 AM

She just needs to STFU. I say bs to her little story about abstinence for teens is not realistic. It sure as hell was when I was teenager. However, I am an old fart, and back then you were viewed as a creep if you smoked pot or a slut if up you had a baby out of wedlock. The good old days of immoral behavior are amongst us.:rolleyes: God help us.

Gingersnap

02-18-2009, 11:43 AM

You keep emphasizing "non-reproductive sex". Is that a fancy way of saying blow jobs? :p

For the most part, along with the ever-popular hand job. One of the reasons that all teens are responsible for most of the new STD infections is that they somehow believe that touching or sucking on a body part isn't a problem in disease transmission. It's a huge problem. STDs aren't confined to "injectable" body fluids.

Most of the common STDs are readily transmitted through non-reproductive sex. Your condom is helpful in delaying both pregnancy and some infections but it's perfectly useless in preventing or delaying a surprising number of infections.

I don't think that non-reproductive sex is exactly a new phenomena among teens. What might be newish is the number of different sexual contacts any one teen has today in some groups. In the 1930s, a girl might "provide relief" to a serious boyfriend she expected to marry. In the 2000s, a girl might use non-reproductive sex with several casual partners to fit in socially with a peer group.

linda22003

02-18-2009, 11:57 AM

I didn't see the interview with Bristol; did she mention a wedding or isn't that in the cards anymore?

Gingersnap

02-18-2009, 12:01 PM

I didn't see the interview with Bristol; did she mention a wedding or isn't that in the cards anymore?

It's still on as far I know.

PoliCon

02-18-2009, 02:05 PM

I didn't see the interview with Bristol; did she mention a wedding or isn't that in the cards anymore?

read it again. It's in there.

linda22003

02-18-2009, 02:11 PM

I say bs to her little story about abstinence for teens is not realistic. It sure as hell was when I was teenager.

Okay, the fact that no one was willing to sleep with you is not the same thing.

The proper terminology is: engaged to be married. If She's engaged - there is a wedding coming. :p

linda22003

02-18-2009, 02:31 PM

The end of the embedded clip says "no immediate plans". :rolleyes:

Phillygirl

02-18-2009, 02:42 PM

Okay, the fact that no one was willing to sleep with you is not the same thing.

Damn you. I am literally laughing out loud right now!

linda22003

02-18-2009, 02:46 PM

Damn you. I am literally laughing out loud right now!

You know I'm not the only one who was thinking it.

Lanie

02-18-2009, 08:23 PM

She just needs to STFU. I say bs to her little story about abstinence for teens is not realistic. It sure as hell was when I was teenager. However, I am an old fart, and back then you were viewed as a creep if you smoked pot or a slut if up you had a baby out of wedlock. The good old days of immoral behavior are amongst us.:rolleyes: God help us.

I think one can teach morals in favor of pre-marital sex without committing the immorality of being a judgemental jerk.

The church I used to go to obviously thought and preached that pre-marital sex was a sin. However, when girls ended up pregnant, they were not called slut. They were still accepted as church members. I think if people had not went as far as bashing women who got pregnant (never mind the man, I guess the woman got pregnant on her own somehow), then there might not be a problem with acknowledging not having sex as a moral.

PoliCon

02-19-2009, 12:34 AM

I think one can teach morals in favor of pre-marital sex without committing the immorality of being a judgemental jerk.

The church I used to go to obviously thought and preached that pre-marital sex was a sin. However, when girls ended up pregnant, they were not called slut. They were still accepted as church members. I think if people had not went as far as bashing women who got pregnant (never mind the man, I guess the woman got pregnant on her own somehow), then there might not be a problem with acknowledging not having sex as a moral.

of course the church needs to accept them - but society should not.

Mythic

02-19-2009, 12:43 AM

What I took from the interview was that Bristol Palin was advising teens to refrain from sex and practice abstinence and just wait. She added on a side note that not all teens today will refrain from sex, and most likely wont. This may be because of the teens parents as well, and also the fact that people at that age are still trying to figure out the world and do not fully understand how it all works.

PoliCon

02-19-2009, 12:45 AM

What I took from the interview was that Bristol Palin was advising teens to refrain from sex and practice abstinence and just wait. She added on a side note that not all teens today will refrain from sex, and most likely wont. This may be because of the teens parents as well, and also the fact that people at that age are still trying to figure out the world and do not fully understand how it all works.

They figure out the tab and slot system readily enough . . . .

Mythic

02-19-2009, 12:50 AM

They figure out the tab and slot system readily enough . . . .
I was talking more along the lines of the results of that...I hear kids saying that parenting is nothing and that if they get pregnant it will be no big deal and everything will be perfectly normal. Many kids dont get how huge the responsibility of a child is. Obviously they know the process of getting there...:rolleyes:

PoliCon

02-19-2009, 12:56 AM

I was talking more along the lines of the results of that...I hear kids saying that parenting is nothing and that if they get pregnant it will be no big deal and everything will be perfectly normal. Many kids dont get how huge the responsibility of a child is. Obviously they know the process of getting there...:rolleyes:

they have their own parents for examples and since their own parents take no responsibility for their own actions or for their children - instead abdicating their upbringing to the schools and the TV - what else can we expect?

Mythic

02-19-2009, 01:03 AM

they have their own parents for examples and since their own parents take no responsibility for their own actions or for their children - instead abdicating their upbringing to the schools and the TV - what else can we expect?
Nothing. All that will happen is that there will be more babies born with unprepared parents and more abortions. Its sad to see what things are coming to when family values were once so important.

Lanie

02-19-2009, 01:23 AM

of course the church needs to accept them - but society should not.

Why not? You can say that what somebody did was wrong without turning your backs on them as a person. There's nothing immoral about treating those who had sex before marriage like human beings. If anything, it's immoral not to treat them like human beings. Going around calling women sluts is not treating them like human beings.

noonwitch

02-19-2009, 10:42 AM

You keep emphasizing "non-reproductive sex". Is that a fancy way of saying blow jobs? :p

Well, there's also Saddlebacking-if you read Dan Savage's sex advice column, you know what I mean.

PoliCon

02-19-2009, 10:50 AM

Why not? You can say that what somebody did was wrong without turning your backs on them as a person. There's nothing immoral about treating those who had sex before marriage like human beings. If anything, it's immoral not to treat them like human beings. Going around calling women sluts is not treating them like human beings.

the church is made up of individual believers and is the corporate body of Christ. As such, the church should accept the sinner and reject the sin. Society is the system of order and the culture for a group of people and as such should reject this kind of behavior and those who perpetuate it.

linda22003

02-19-2009, 10:51 AM

Well, there's also Saddlebacking-if you read Dan Savage's sex advice column, you know what I mean.

I don't know what you mean, but I have a feeling it doesn't involve Rick Warren's megachurch. Right?

jinxmchue

02-19-2009, 10:57 AM

The best option is abstinence, the teen said, but added that she didn't think that was "realistic."

Hey, and not sticking a gun to your head and pulling the trigger is the best option, too, but it's not realistic, either. :rolleyes:

Bristol goes to public school. Can't imagine where she got the idea that abstinence wasn't realistic...